The Cage
by herk227
Summary: Why does Gabriel go through such length to keep his brothers safe? When he makes another deal with Crowley to be able to talk to his brothers at least once again, he remembers a world as it should be. Character study set in the same continuity as my other SPN stories.
1. Chapter 1

author's note: This story takes place more or less directly after s/8602578/1/An-Angel-and-a-Demon-walk-into-a-bar. It will be three chapters. The first chapter is a kind of prologue between Gabriel/Crowley

* * *

Gabriel turned on his back lazily. He hadn't felt this relaxed and satisfied in a long time, because no matter how good you were at summoning your dream girl/boy it could never compare to the real deal. He wondered idly if he glowed a little bit and lifted his hand above his head to check. Next to him Crowley chuckled.

"Checking if you turned into a real boy?"

Gabriel grinned and turned to look at the demon next to him. Crowley's hair was ruffled and a thin layer of sweat covered his body and he'd never seen something as sexy in his whole existence.

"I still don't trust you."

The demon laughed. Gabriel noticed all the fine laughter lines around his eyes and how his eyes sparkled in true amusement. He was glad that Crowley didn't take offense and decided that maybe, just maybe this could work as more than simply a one-off.

"Course you don't – you're no bloody idiot." The demon sank back into his pillows a satisfied smile playing along his lips. "Trust is for fools, little girls and old maidens anyway – so as long as you don't start calling me Pollyanna..."

Now it was Gabriel's turn to chuckle as his finger traced along the collar bone of Crowley's vessel.

"Hmm kinky."

The demon pulled him into a kiss and for a while the rest of the world was forgotten.

"Can I ask you a favor?"

Crowley raised an eyebrow. "A favor? Really? I'm a demon, darling – you know the rules."

The angel held back a small sigh. "Sorry, I meant to ask 'Are you interested in a little deal?'"

"With you? - Always." Crowley's eyes already devoured the angel's lips.

"Can you keep your minions away from the Cage for some time?"

And with those words the mood was killed. Crowley slipped into business mood.

"What do you want there?"

"Family business."

"That's not enough explanation bird boy. Your family business more often than not revolves around my kind being wiped out – so you have to give me more than that, if you want a snowball's chance of a deal." Crowley sat up against the headboard of the bed.

"I went through all this trouble to stop my two idiot brothers from destroying this beautiful place and you think that now I'm going to help them? Do I look that stupid to you?"

"Well you are an angel."

Gabriel couldn't help the small smile that crept on his lips. "I need to talk to them – nothing more."

"Nothing?" The doubt was evident in Crowley's voice.

"Well, maybe I can get those two to do the decent thing for once and let their vessels go." Gabriel looked at Crowley from the corner of his eye, afraid the demon would mock him.

"Why would you want to do that?" The demon was baffled.

"They're both good boys as far as I can tell and it would make Cas happy."

"Cas?"

Gabriel rolled his eyes, he really didn't want to explain this to the demon. "My baby brother. He's quite fond of anything that goes by the name of Winchester."

"I think I have to reevaluate my judgment of you, feather-brain. You are at least as big an idiot as your brethren."

The archangel sighed. "Just tell me what you want and spare me the lesson, Crowley."

The demon's eyes were hard and cold as he thought about it. The change was uncanny and frightened Gabriel just a little bit. "A favor – owed by you – collectable by yours truly at my convenience."

He flinched at the venom in Crowley's voice. Every instinct told him that this was a very, very bad idea. Owing a favor was a dangerous thing. One simply shouldn't make deals with demons, especially not from a position of weakness. He gulped. "Two conditions."

"You are in no position to negotiate."

"I want this Crowley," he admitted, "but I've got my limits."

Disgust was written all over the demon's face. "Name them."

"One: I won't disobey my father's orders."

The demon snorted. "God hasn't given an order since before I was born."

"Nevertheless. There are a couple of standing orders and he might come back and give new ones."

"Fine," Crowley agreed with contempt. "I've got the suspicion that you're physically incapable to do so anyway. You'd probably combust on the spot if you tried and there's no gain in that."

"Two: I won't kill or harm any of my brothers and sisters or let them come to harm."

This seemed to surprise the demon. He'd obviously expected something different. "Now listen to you, judging by your tone I'd almost swear that this is more important to you than 'One'."

Gabriel didn't dignify this with a reply.

"Fine," Crowley spat, "24 hours of free passage to the Cage against a favor that won't include you disobeying god or harming any angel."

The kiss was nothing like any of the ones they shared before. It was pure business with some not so subtle undertones of aggression and no traces of lust or even fun anywhere.

"Give me one hour to give the orders and make the necessary arrangements." He turned towards Gabriel once more before leaving. "And stay far enough away from the damn thing, I heard it's able to trap archangels."

It might be that Crowley just wanted to keep his investment safe, but Gabriel smiled anyway. "Thanks."


	2. Chapter 2

author's note: I'm so damn mean to poor Gabe

* * *

The next hour was one of the longest he'd ever endured. He wondered if he shouldn't have made the deal. He asked himself if he had the slightest chance to achieve anything. He even doubted if Crowley would keep up his end of the deal – which frankly was ridiculous. Demons other than humans or angels were bound by their deals.

After waiting for exactly 60 minutes Gabriel zapped himself to the entrance of Hell. 24 hours were too short to waste any of it.

His journey to the Cage was disconnecting. Not that he had much experience in the matter, but he imagined that Hell usually wasn't this empty.

Only once his walk was interrupted as a hellhound crossed his path. The animal's fur stood up and all three heads were growling and snarling in his direction.

"What? No one told you this place was of limits, Lassie?"

The creature shifted his weight, getting ready to jump at him. Gabriel spread his wings into the material plane. He kept their grace part under control since he didn't want to fry the critter.

"Shush."

The hellhound had its tail between its legs and fled yowling.

"Yeah – you run home to Timmy." Gabriel wondered what kind of person or demon would risk their pet's life by letting it run around unsupervised in an area warded off by order of the King of Hell. But he had bigger concerns now. Without further delay he continued on his way.

_Heaven was a wonderful place. Gabriel ran through the warm light over a meadow, solely there so that he and his brothers had a place to do so. He sneaked up on Raphael and taped him on the shoulder. _

"_You're it," he proclaimed with a grin and ran away._

_Raphael furrowed his brow, not sure what his little imp of a brother expected him to do._

"_I think he wants you to chase him," Lucifer explained with a smile. Gabriel always made up new rules and games, luckily enough Lucifer usually managed to keep up with the leaps and bounds of his youngest brother's mind._

_Raphael bit his lip, unsure if he was allowed to run as wildly as Gabriel, who created quite a ruckus, taunting him from afar. He searched Lucifer's face for a sign of what to do._

_The older still smiled and didn't seem to be upset with Gabriel's unruly behavior. "Go on, Raphael, catch him."_

_With that permission the younger practically flew away. Lucifer grinned. He didn't mind the younger ones their fun, besides Gabriel's games usually turned out to have a great training value. Neither he nor Michael objected to the fact that their youngest made a game out of everything even if he constantly changed the rules. Father never intended for them to live without joy after all._

"_No wings," could be heard in the distance as Gabriel raised the level of difficulty._

Although he made haste, it took him almost two hours before he reached the Cage. He approached the place carefully, feeling its pull and the sheer power in it. A trap for an archangel able to keep one or more of them bound for eternity.

As he walked closer he was able to make out his brothers. Michael and Lucifer in their chosen vessels Adam and Sam. And of course they were fighting. Gabriel sighed. It had been absurd to expect anything else really. It had only been a couple of days since they'd been pulled down here, so any hope that they might have stopped fighting, had been extremely foolish on his part. Nevertheless it broke Gabriel's heart to see his brothers like this. All that hate and bitterness adding up over the millenia poisoning their very beings, burying any love they might still feel for each other.

Lucifer had his back towards him and Michael was solely focused on the brother before him. Neither of them noticed Gabriel or anything outside the Cage really. The youngest archangel fought to keep his emotion in check. It wouldn't help if he himself got all emotional as well. He began to slowly and loudly clap his hands while strolling over closer to his brothers' prison.

Michael looked over to identify the source of the clapping and his eyes widened in surprise. Lucifer turned around in reaction to his brother's shocked expression and paled as he realized who stood outside.

"Gabriel," they both started in unison.

"Stay away," Michael commanded, obviously afraid, that his little brother would come too close.

"But you're dead," whispered Lucifer.

"_What have you done now, Gabe?" Lucifer wasn't smiling. Which never was a good sign. If even his favorite brother couldn't see the humor in this, then he was in deep trouble._

"_I just... I thought it might be funny." Which sounded weak even to his own ears. "Please don't tell Michael, Lucy."_

_His brother looked at him sternly, something which he almost never did. "He is going to find out eventually, Gabriel."_

_The younger gulped. Michael was father's right hand and took that role very serious, which meant he saw it as his duty to keep his brothers in line and punish them if necessary. And Gabriel had the distinct feeling he wouldn't get off lightly this time._

"_You'd better go to him and confess what you've done. If he finds out in any other way it's only going to be worse."_

"_But I don't want to be punished. You don't know what it's like when Michael's angry with you."_

_Lucifer sat down next to his baby brother and looked him in the eye. "Michael is much older and he took care of me the same way we now look after Raphael and you. Before you two were born I did manage to get into trouble with him once or twice, you know."_

_Gabriel's eyes widened. He couldn't imagine Lucifer ever getting into trouble. "But Michael loves you far too much to get mad at you."_

_The disbelief showing in the younger one's face provoked a smile from the older. "More like disappointed," he corrected. "But it never stopped him from punishing me. And then he forgave me because he loved me – like he loves you and Raphael, so just go to him and get it over with."_

_Gabriel's throat was still tight but he nodded. Lucifer was very smart and if he couldn't trust him, then who could he trust._

The Trickster shook his head. "You two still both deem me a little idiot, don't you? Well newsflash – I'm not the one stuck in Hell." He stopped at a safe distance and crossed his arms, studying his brothers with a stern expression.

Michael turned towards Lucifer as he realized what his fallen brother had said. "Why should Gabriel be dead?"

Typical, he went to Hell to talk to his brothers and still they only focused on each other. Well OK maybe that was a bit unfair, Lucifer – although answering Michael – kept his eyes on him, unable to believe, what his eyes told him.

"Because I killed him."

And there it was the one thing Gabriel had hoped for – pain in his brother's voice as he admitted his crime – a remnant of the Lucifer he'd once known.

"_Don't worry, Gabe. Michael and I will always look out for you."_

Michael grabbed his brother's shoulder and pulled him around, his voice was full of cold anger and deadly quiet. "You did what?"

Facing Michael's reproach, Lucifer closed up, hiding any trace of vulnerability. "_He_ attacked _me_ with his blade. I only defended myself."

Michael looked from one of his brothers to the other trying to make sense of everything. Gabriel showed his best poker face, waiting for him to come to a conclusion.

"_What happened, Gabriel?" Michael wondered as he saw his usually happy little brother pouting in the shadows of The Tree._

"_I came here to be alone, Michael."_

_This earned him a raised eyebrow by the elder. Gabriel bit his lip but he didn't apologize, it was the truth after all._

"_I see. And why did you want to be alone?" Michael sat down next to him obviously not willing to leave him be._

"_I haven't seen Lucifer in ages."_

_Michael was puzzled. "He was with our father as you know. They had a lot to talk about."_

_Their father always had a lot to talk about with Lucifer. Lucy got to spent more time with him than Gabriel or Raphael or even Michael. And although Gabriel loved their father and would have loved to see him or talk to him more often he could never be jealous of his brother._

"_But now he's back and he's training with Raphael. And we haven't even talked yet."_

_The oldest archangel couldn't see the problem. But although he didn't understand his little brother, he could clearly tell that Gabriel was sad. So instead of the planned reprimand for being late for his training lesson with Michael, the younger angel got a comforting arm around the shoulder and Michael's wings spread out to embrace him._

"_We all have our duties and we take care of them first, even if we would like to do something else, Gabe." Usually Lucifer was the only one to use this term of endearment but he observed, that the little one seemed to like it. _

_Gabriel relaxed into his brother's arm at Michael's use of the familiar pet name._

"Gabriel would _never_ attack you." The absolute conviction in Michael's voice seemed to get through to Lucifer. He turned to his younger brother as Michael demanded to know: "What happened?"

The youngest ignored the question and looked at Lucifer. "You know I'm still trying to figure out what hurts more – the fact that you were ready to drive a blade through my heart or the fact that Mickey gets me while you obviously don't."

"Gabriel..." Lucifer started softly.

"Gabriel," Michael interrupted. He didn't take well to being ignored. "What happened?"

"Lucy wanted to kill my friends." No, that didn't sound right. Gabriel took a deep breath. He wasn't some whiny brat and he didn't want to sound like one. He'd lived on his own for a long time, he was a respected or at least feared pagan god, a well-known Trickster and a big brother and protector to Castiel. He wouldn't fall back into his role as Michael's and Lucifer's baby brother – absolutely not. Even if his first instinct upon hearing Michael's commanding voice was to obey, to be a good boy.

He started anew, more calmly this time. "A group of pagan deities wanted to stop the apocalypse. They approached Lucy and for the audacity of trying to protect their world our dear brother slaughtered them. As some of them were my friends, I took it upon myself to stop him."

"Your friends wanted to kill me."

"Gee, I wonder why. Lucy at that point I probably was the only one in existence except – maybe – your brainwashed lackeys who had absolutely no desire to kill you. Besides they were no danger to you."

"That's still no reason to side with them," Lucifer stated.

Michael carefully studied his brothers: "And when he stood against you, you tried to kill him."

Gabriel swore under his breath, he hadn't come here to add fuel to the fire. "Hold it Mickey. I _did_ create a facsimile of me with an archangel's blade sneaking up on him. He still was stupid to fall for it, but he did believe he was acting in self-defense."

_Gabriel was biting his lip to hold back the tears. Of course Michael hadn't been happy, when he found out, that he had played a little bit with the genetic information of that stupid flightless bird, to give the animal a sense of humor. So he had been punished – severely – for messing with father's great plan. All he wanted right now was to hide from Michael at least until the pain had ebbed away._

_But then he realized, that Michael was on his way to Lucifer and he had a really bad feeling about that. After all Lucy had been the one to show him how the genetic code on that particular little world worked in the first place._

_When he reached his two older brothers Michael was already halfway through tearing Lucifer a new one. And judging by Lucy's face he wasn't going to take the tongue-lashing lying down. The two of them almost never fought but when they did, it got really, really ugly. Usually both of them ended up hurt. Gabriel couldn't let that happen, especially not if he was the source of it._

"_Michael, stop!"_

_The older archangel turned to him, eyes flaring angrily. He was in no mood to listen to Gabriel right now. The younger talked fast. "It wasn't his fault. I... I figured out how to do it and showed him and he told me not to mess with it."_

"_And you did it anyway? Although you were clearly forbidden by an elder?"_

_Gabriel knew that he just bought himself a whole new world of trouble, but at least Michael wasn't angry at Lucifer anymore. He nodded._

_A couple of hours later Lucifer found him in his favorite hideout. "Hey."_

"_Hey." Gabriel sniffled._

"_Are you OK?"_

"_I'm going to be."_

_Lucifer shook his head at Gabriel's stubborn display of bravery. "You lied to Michael."_

"_Another thing I learned because of you, let's hope he doesn't find out." This earned the younger a little chuckle. His brother reached out to use his power to take away part of the pain. "Luce!"_

"_What? You are the only one, who is allowed to bend the rules around here?"_

_After taking care of Gabriel's discomfort and ruffling his hair like he'd often done when they'd been younger, Lucifer got up and left. He turned around once more to say. "Thanks, Gabby."_

Both of his brothers stared at him, surprised that he would be willing to speak in defense of Lucifer. Michael opened his mouth to say something but Gabriel interrupted him before he got a chance.

"And don't _you_ dare to tell me, that that's not reason to kill a brother. You don't have the right to judge anyone in regard of fratricide, seeing as what you were planning to do."

Just for a moment Michael was too shocked by the sheer anger in Gabriel's voice to say anything. But he was the oldest of angels, the commander of the heavenly host and he'd never tolerated disrespect. "You won't speak to me that way."

"Or what? You're coming out here and make me behave?"

Michael's face darkened. "I was following father's orders."

"You leave Dad out of this. Look I already gave Lucy a piece of my mind back in the hotel where he 'killed' me, but you're not much better than him. In fact you're worse. You are the oldest Michael, you should be better than this. You should be wise enough to love and forgive your stupid little brothers when one of us screws up. Kick us in the ass, sure, but not banish us out of your life. A part of me wishes that Dean Winchester had agreed to be your frickin' vessel, because maybe just maybe you could have learned something from him."

"What could I possibly learn from a human?"

Lucifer's face showed disgust matching the one on in his brother's voice.

Great – the one thing those two can agree on. He remembered watching their fight from the shadows at the Stull Cemetery and he remembered what had saved the day. "He was there."

The look on Michael's and Lucifer's face made it very clear, that neither of them saw his point. To them Dean's presence had been nothing but a nuisance.

_Raphael looked helplessly at his younger brother. Gabriel was pacing up and down and it was probably nothing more than sheer luck, that none of their younger brethren were here to witness one of the archangels so clearly distraught._

"_Why does he have to be such an idiot, Raphi?"_

"_I don't know what possessed Lucifer to disobey, Gabriel." He tried to keep any emotion out of his voice. The chasm now suddenly running through their family unsettled him, too, but he took refuge in his duty._

"_I'm talking about Michael." Gabriel snapped at him._

"_Michael did his duty as a good son." If there was one thing Raphael wouldn't tolerate it was disrespect against their oldest brother._

"_And what about his duty as Lucifer's brother? What about his own opinion?"_

_Raphael's face hardened. "What are you talking about?"_

"_The fact, that maybe father would have listened, if Michael talked about his own doubts. The fact that maybe Lucifer needed to hear Michael speak up for him."_

"_Are you saying we should disobey our father's wishes?"_

_Gabriel had tears in his eyes. "Of course not! I'm saying that maybe this whole disaster could have been averted, if our family wouldn't always deal in frigging absolutes and Michael could learn to be a bit more forgiving of other's imperfections."_

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Sammy screwed up – real bad as I might add. But Deano still trusted him enough to go with his very risky plan of taking the devil into him. And when he failed, when Lucy proved to be too strong and there was nothing Dean could do, he still ran to his brother to be there for him. You might think what you want about people in general and the Winchesters specifically but their loyalty to each other is their strength. And it saved the world." He shook his head sadly. "Why can't you..." His voice drifted off.

Michael was obviously uncomfortable with the subject matter, so he changed the direction of their conversation. "Gabriel, you have to get us out of here."

His trickster brother looked at him for a short moment before breaking out into laughter. "And why would I do that?"

Lucifer spoke up again and a shiver ran along Gabriel's spine, his brother spoke as the tempter, the reasonable, charming one, whom you wouldn't want to deny anything. His voice was sweet and his tone pleading and although Gabriel loved his brother dearly he was intelligent enough to initially distrust anything said in that voice. "You can't let us locked in here forever Gabe – we're your brothers. Or do you want us to rot in Hell?"

"No," the youngest admitted, "I want us all to be home and a family again and all this to be over and forgiven. But I'm not as naive as to believe that possible right now. So Hell it is."

"Gabriel." Lucifer's voice was pleading, his face open and vulnerable.

The Trickster closed his eyes. He knew his brother well enough to realize, when he was being a manipulative son of a bitch. That didn't make it hurt less or even make Lucifer's plea less heartfelt but he wouldn't give in. "That damn Cage is the only thing right now stopping you from ripping each other's throats out. It keeps your powers bound and at the same time keeps you alive. I went through a lot of trouble to get you in there and I certainly won't let anyone free you before you two had a chance to cool off."

Lucifer's eyes narrowed at his little brother's words and their implication. Michael wasn't as quick on the uptake. "You have nothing to do with us being here. That was the Winchesters' doing."

"Yeah, because their top priority would have been to capture you both instead of killing the devil or something."

"It's true," Lucifer confirmed in a cold voice, "he planted the idea in their minds and told them what they needed to do, Sam's memories of his 'goodbye letter' are pretty clear."

Gabriel very clearly remembered the expression Michael wore right now, the one that told him, that what he'd done wasn't considered a prank anymore but a serious offense and that no matter what, he wouldn't escape the just punishment coming his way. Facing Michael's wrath was more difficult than he had imagined and he asked himself if it really had been such a good idea to let himself be influenced by the older Winchester's reproaches. On the other hand right now Michael was as impotent to do something about it as he'd ever be and Gabriel might as well finish what he started.

"It was about the only thing that I could come up with, to stop you two from killing each other." And although he let his feelings flow into his voice, although he let them both see, how much this _hurt_ him, neither of his brothers were in a forgiving mood right now.

"What do you want here, Gabriel?" Michael asked coldly.

"Is it so hard to believe that I just wanted to see and talk to my brothers? I missed you, Michael."

_The War was long since over. Gabriel had been lucky that Michael never asked of him to kill any of their brethren, who fought on Lucifer's side, personally. He had trained the younger angels, had healed the injured and fought when necessary, but he had managed to get through the whole mess without killing any brother or sister. He still got sick to this day when he remembered some of the things he had seen during that time. Angels were warriors, but fighting among themselves was just wrong._

_Afterwards he had returned to Heaven. But things had changed. The War had left wounds, that simply wouldn't heal._

_Gabriel had tried long enough to make everything alright again, but Michael didn't listen and Raphael and him still weren't exactly on speaking terms. And the younger ones – well they couldn't understand. He was just too tired to try any longer, and he grew sick of the political games some of the lesser angels seemed to be so fond of._

_He hadn't laughed once since Lucifer fell. Maybe it was time to make a clear cut._

"You could have come home anytime," the oldest informed him, "no one forced you to leave Heaven."

Lucifer gave Gabriel the once over. This was news to him and he wondered what else had happened between his brothers while he was gone.

The youngest shook his head. "No I couldn't have. Once Lucifer was gone too much changed. And sooner or later you would have ordered me to fight against our brothers and sisters for some reason or the other. I'm sorry Michael but I couldn't."

"Instead you ran and hid amongst pagan deities and humans."

Gabriel shrugged. "There's worse company – and I even made some friends."

"And over those friends you forgot your duties to your family." Gabriel tensed at his brother's words. "You chose to ignore father's wishes."

"And again with the Daddy issues. You know I never realized this before, but every time you run out of arguments, you hide behind daddy's supposed will."

Lucifer's weight shifted slightly. "Say about Michael what he wants, but he was always loyal to our father – no matter the cost."

"He was loyal to his idea of our father and later only to his own self-image as the obedient son. If he really cared about Dad's wishes he wouldn't have pushed for the frigging apocalypse."

Michael lowered his gaze, restraining himself to try to calm his little brother. He sounded almost tired. "It was written, Gabriel."

"It was written, that it would happen – not when. And nowhere in all the scripture was it ever stated, that father _wanted_ it to happen. I read the stupid thing forwards and backwards, believe me I know."

"Everything that happens is our father's will." Lucifer's statement was bitter beyond belief.

Gabriel snorted. "You know I'd rather stick with the clearly verbalized orders, thank you very much. The ones like 'This is men, love him and serve him as you would love and serve me.' The ones where he actually spoke to all of us."

"Lucifer disobeyed that order."

"You are unbelievable, you know that. And I thought the Winchesters were incorrigible. Have you ever heard the human proverb of the kettle and the pot, Michael?"

This clearly left his brother confused. "What are you talking about?"

"You claim to honor our father's wishes, yet you try to kill off the whole human species. I never claimed to be the perfect son, but when it comes to people I think I'm the only one of the four of us who actually did at least something remotely similar to what he wanted."

"I never tried to kill them, I wanted to bring them paradise."

"Did you ever ask them, if they wanted it? Because serving someone usually includes to respect their wishes at least some of the time."

Lucifer interrupted them. "As if you did everything out of your love and respect for them."

Gabriel shook his head. "No of course not, I've got my own reasons. But _I_ never claimed my motives were pure. I think the only one of our messed up little family who can claim that is little Cas."

"Castiel rebelled." To Michael this ended every discussion.

"Against you and Raphi and your whole posse but hardly against our father. He did exactly what Dad wanted and got a brand new shining life, all his powers back and then some as a reward. I think his resurrection should end all the discussions on that account."

"Father brought Castiel back?" Michael was shocked by the news. He stared at his brother in disbelief.

And with that Gabriel's anger was gone. Seeing his oldest brother like that reminded him all too much of how well he loved them both. His voice was gentle as he told him. "Yes, he did."

Michael went pale and looked defeated. "So he didn't..."

"Apparently not." Gabriel lowered his gaze as he recognized tears in his brother's eyes, giving the older as much privacy as he could to hold onto his dignity.

Lucifer didn't react nearly as well as Michael to the news. His eyes flared in anger and he ran against the walls of the Cage in a futile attempt to break out. He screamed out in pain as he touched the barriers built to hold him in. "That insolent child – how dare he?"

Michael turned towards his raging brother. "Lucifer it's not for us to question..."

With an anguished cry Lucifer attacked Michael and the two were caught again in one of their battles.

Gabriel couldn't help but notice the tears streaming down his own face as he shouted at his brothers to stop. And as so often before they were too caught up in their fight to take notice of him.

"Damn it you two, I only got a couple of hours, so please stop wasting the time."

There was one thing that might still stop them, it was risky but right now, Gabriel didn't really care. He stepped closer to the Cage until the pull was almost too much for him to withstand. "Stop it you two idiots!"

Obviously Lucifer wasn't completely gone, he noticed how close his little brother was and stopped punching Michael immediately. "Gabe, get back you fool!"

Michael turned towards him too, taking a few steps away from his fallen brother. "Gabriel – what are you doing?"

Gabriel's jaw was set, his mouth a thin line. He stared at his brothers with crossed arms without taking a step back. His hair was actually ruffled and streamed towards the Cage, moved by the prison's pull as if by wind. He was pretty sure that one or two steps more would push him over the event horizon of the damned thing.

"If this is the only way to get you to stop and listen to me, then so be it."

"Gabe, please..."

"What Lucy, you don't want me in there with you? Believe me I'm not too keen on that either. God look at you two." He shook his head, tears stinging in his eyes.

"Gabriel, please take a few steps back." Michael wasn't used to pleading, but he wanted the younger to listen.

"If I do will you start fighting again? Because if you do..."

Michael looked at Lucifer, so much had happened between them, even the love they had shared for their father had been turned and twisted in his brother until it seemed they had nothing in common any more. But apparently they still shared a desire to protect their baby brother from harm.

"We won't," Lucifer promised. Michael nodded his agreement.

Gabriel studied them for a moment before he got back to a safe distance.

"I haven't got all the time in the world, the clock is running."

"How long do you have? And more importantly how did you get here without an army to back you up?" Michael 's gaze was as intense as ever.

"A couple of hours – I have to make sure I've got enough time left for the way back. And I had to make a deal to get this much."

"A deal? With whom?"

Gabriel would have preferred not to tell them that, but the least he could offer his brothers was honesty. "One of yours actually, Lucy."

"You made a deal with a demon?" Michael wasn't pleased.

"Like I said I made a couple of friends. Although this particular deal might have pissed him off a bit. I'll have to see if I can patch our relation once I'm done here."

"Gabriel this is no joking matter."

"I'm not joking. And just to be clear on this I would have done worse if it meant I could talk to the two of you for a while." The youngest archangel sat down on the floor outside the cage. He wished that he could touch his brothers, hold them, let their graces brush against each other, to really get them to understand, but the circumstances only allowed for them to talk. So talk he did.

He wasn't sure how much they really understood, but at least they listened and as long as they listened they didn't fight. He couldn't hope to achieve more than to plant the seeds, so that maybe one day they might heal.


	3. Chapter 3

author's note: Epilogue to get it cannon compatible - because I'm a sucker for that.

While sitting in Hell not bothered by any demon and sure that the path would stay clear, Gabriel sent out a message. Shortly before he had to leave Castiel appeared.

"What is _he_ doing here?" Lucifer barely contained his rage.

Castiel's eyes glowed as he studied the two imprisoned archangels. Before he could say something a hand on his shoulder held him back and Gabriel spoke up.

"Cas is here to ask you something – politely."

Michael was weary. He and Castiel had stood on different sides during the last conflict, the young angel had thrown a firebomb at him. Yet if what Gabriel had said held true, then he was the one who had erred, and Castiel couldn't be blamed for his actions.

"What do you want from us?"

"The two men in there with you, they have done nothing to deserve their imprisonment."

Michael studied him carefully. The Cage was never build to hold human bodies or souls, so what the young angel asked for was possible. And with Gabriel and Castiel outside the humans could even survive. Lucifer studied his brothers outside through narrowed eyes. He clearly wasn't ready to give Castiel anything and viewed upon his presence here as a proof of Gabriel's betrayal.

Without a second thought Michael attacked Lucifer and ripped him out of Sam Winchester's body. Before his brother had a chance to react he shoved the young man and his own vessel out of the cage.

With a scream of rage Lucifer attacked Michael.

Gabriel felt tears welling up in his eyes as he held the two unconscious bodies and watched his brothers fight again. He could do nothing but pray that the seeds he had planted today would someday bear fruit.

He and Castiel left Hell without looking back.

Crowley had watched everything from the shadows. Maybe it was a bit obsessive to spend 24 hrs stalking an archangel, but Crowley didn't consider that time wasted. The stuff he had learned about angels was priceless and Gabe had even done him the favor of talking a bit about Heavenly politics. Sure he should be pissed that the archangel had used their deal to do little Castiel a favor, but he had to applaud a man who could take an opportunity. He wondered when they would find out that their bastard brother had held onto Sammy's precious soul and he was sure that he could use that to his advantage.

He followed the two angels until they reached the end of his realm in the hope of learning something more, but the two traveled in hasty silence.

He stood witness how Gabriel brought Adam back to consciousness first and overheard the young man's decision to go back to Heaven, to choose peace instead of life and he sneered at the idiocy of that. Therefore he applauded Castiel's judgment, when the younger angel explained that he would only bring Sam to, when he was close to Dean, and would not show himself in the process. That probably was the wisest choice.

An interesting piece back on the board, a lot of new information and a favor owed by an archangel – all in all not a bad day.


End file.
